Murder suspect tells Nueces County jury he shot because he was afraid for his life

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Mark Young/Caller-Times

Corpus Christi Police have arrested 38-year-old Aldo Miguel Naranjo on suspicion of murder in connection with the shooting that in the 4400 block of Mistletoe Drive on Monday night.(Photo: Nueces County Jail)

A man accused in a fatal shooting on Mistletoe Drive earlier this year told a jury Thursday he fired his gun in self defense.

Aldo Miguel Naranjo, whose murder trial began Monday, took the stand Thursday in 214th District Judge Inna Klein's courtroom. Prosecutors rested their case after offering witnesses for much of the week, and the defense began presenting its case.

Naranjo was indicted in April for murder, a first-degree felony, court records show. He has pleaded not guilty.

Police have said officers were dispatched around 8 p.m. on Jan. 15. in response to a call about a possible shooting victim. The man was later identified as Joel Cunha and had multiple gunshot wounds and died from his injuries after being taken to a hospital.

Before Naranjo made his case to the Nueces County jury, Cunha's teenage daughter took the stand as one of the state's witnesses. She was present at the time of the shooting.

The 15-year-old girl testified a man she identified as Naranjo had given her a note with his name and phone number on it. She showed the note to her father in the car, and Cunha approached him about it, she said.

At some point on their way home, her father thought a car was following them and took a different route home, she said.

He pulled over and parked to see if the other car would pass.

The other car stopped next to them, and her father got out, grabbing his walking cane, the girl said. She heard gunshots and her father banged on the window and told her to call 9-11.

Much of this account wasn't disputed by Naranjo.

On the stand, Naranjo said he saw the girl and her father at the store, but thought they were a couple and that the teen was older. Naranjo also described the man approaching him at his car.

Naranjo said the man appeared angry and yelled that the girl was 14. He yelled "I didn't know" back, but the man kept yelling and threw the note at him. Naranjo threw the note back. The man left but came back a second time and flipped off Naranjo's cap, before both drove off.

Naranjo said he was on his way home, and assumed the altercation was over. But during the drive, became concerned he was being followed. Eventually, after having let a car pass, he saw the car pull over, he said.

"I could see him start to get out of the truck, I stopped right here ... I don't know I was gonna talk to him or something," Naranjo said. "I didn't want him to follow me to my house."

He described seeing the man with a "metal object" he thought was a weapon raised over his shoulder moving toward him. Naranjo said the man hit him in the arm.

"From there, I did what I did. I shot him," he said. "I was afraid (for) my life."

He couldn't recall how many times he fired the gun, saying he "started blacking out."

While prosecution was questioning Naranjo about his chosen route home and why he continued to follow the car, he told the judge he needed a break and court recessed for the day.